A couple of years ago I was studying yoga in India, and one of my teacher's told us a fable about a farmer who has some terrible things happen to him, and then some wonderful things. Each time the local villagers declare to him 'This is the best / worst thing to happen ever!' and each time the farmer simply says 'It's neither good nor bad'.

Your ritual "ritual": My wedding! I think the ritual began months before the actual event – in Hawaiian tradition they call the time before a big ritual Ho'oponopono ‘the bringing of the truth’ and it’s true, anything unclear must be cleared and released before you can really enter into something with the best intention and a full heart...